No, I'm not actually going to write about the Zen of jewelry making or selling. I just wanted to abuse a title format which is already overused. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a fine title on its own, but when do we humans not make too much of a good thing? We lift our noses to the air and follow the craze like blind rats. Now there are more "Zen and the Art ____" titles than actually have real meaning.
All examples of this human copycat tendency bother me. Any movie that does well in the box office is repackaged with new actors and maybe slight variations in the plot or writing and then sold again to the bored masses. We had a penguin movie craze after The March of the Penguins and Happy Feet. UK films and TV shows are rewritten with loud American humor which, I've always thought, have detracted from and sometimes even insulted the original masterpieces.
Now, on the one hand, I am willing to embrace this unfortunate tendency. Evolution has encouraged the reproduction of good things, and in many ways this is vital to our existence. But a great many of us abuse this and forget that innovation is also a boon to evolution. We have so much potential! Why waste it?
So to Creators of Book Titles, Movie Ideas, and Jewelry Makers: Do your own thing. If you don't think you have your own thing to do in whatever field looks glamorous to you, try this: Find the field in which you have something unique to contribute. That way, instead of surfing page upon boring page of nearly identical wire wrapped jewel earrings while sitting through yet another cliche penguin flick, consumers like me can browse a variety of well-thought-out pieces of usable, wearable art while watching that awesome new film you wrote because you weren't wasting your time following the herd.
I did put Zen in the title, so here are my two cents on that: It is my goal to Be... Be present at every moment. Aware of reality, my strengths, weaknesses, tools, limitations. Unique art will come of it.
